Wang Luan waited until the second night, and still hadn’t waited for Yan Qiongyu.
Did something happen to him? Something must have happened to him.
Yan Qiongyu was someone who liked to arrange everything so that nothing could go wrong. Since she had known him, as long as it was something he said out loud, he would definitely do it, never break an appointment.
Haven’t seen each other for over a year, he would understand her worry, and he wouldn’t deliberately mess with her at a time like this. If what happened were a small matter, it wouldn’t be enough to trip him up for so long, so he must have run into troublesome matters.
Wang Luan sat dully for a full day and night, and in the end still stood up.
Hearing the movement of her standing up, the fat cat lying by her hand probably thought she was getting up to feed it, and also climbed up. Wang Luan rushed upstairs in a flurry, took her things, passed by it, ignored its meowing for food, and with one grab scooped it up, taking it and heading out.
Gray Bird was preparing the night market barbecue for the evening; being called out, he saw Wang Luan holding up the cat.
“Gray Bird, I might have to go out for a period of time. Duorou, I want to trouble you to help me take care of it for a period of time.”
Gray Bird subconsciously said, “No problem, small matter, I guarantee I won’t let Duorou lose even a bit of meat!”
Wang Luan: “…………” That’s not necessary.
Gray Bird took the cat and asked somewhat doubtfully, “But Sister Luan, what are you going out to do?” In the past when she went out, it seemed she had never specially handed the cat over to them to take care of; she always brought it along.
Wang Luan: “…Go to the sea to fish up a lost gemstone, I guess.”
Gray Bird didn’t understand: “Huh? Is it to help salvage that gemstone for the rich merchant we talked about a couple days ago?”
Wang Luan didn’t say more. “Sorry to trouble you, Gray Bird.” After saying that, she rubbed the fat cat’s head and hurriedly left.
The spacecraft left the port of the Little Wu District, flying toward that lane in Wang Luan’s memory.
That was the route heading to Zhu Xing’s territory, that omega girl who had once been interested in her, and had taken advantage of her heat to bring her into the high tower.
Wang Luan wasn’t clear what exactly Yan Qiongyu was doing; he had always, intentionally or unintentionally, avoided having her connect him with the things he was doing.
Wang Luan only knew the name “Utopia,” only knew Zhu Xing was also someone from Utopia, knew she and Yan Qiongyu knew each other and had a bad relationship.
Back then she had hidden on some spacecraft inside that high tower and quietly left; just in case, she silently memorized the route.
Unfortunately, she only remembered the route leaving that planet covered in high towers; she didn’t remember the flight path coordinates for when she went there, nor was she clear where the place was where she stopped midway and saw Yan Qiongyu. Otherwise, she would have one more place where she could go look for Yan Qiongyu.
Now going to Zhu Xing’s place was the only way when there was no other way. It wasn’t certain she could find Yan Qiongyu, but she could only try.
Wang Luan suppressed her anxiety and worry and went to that high-tower planet. Before she even got close, she discovered that outside that planet there was a guardpost fortress of warships; ordinary spacecraft simply couldn’t get close.
It was the Li family’s legion insignia.
Wang Luan’s expression was grave. The Utopia that Yan Qiongyu was involved in—needless to say—was definitely that kind of illegal criminal organization that would be struck down by the Empire, so his losing contact was because the Empire legion had wiped out the organization in one sweep?
Thinking of the big moves this legion had made in the border star regions these past one year in suppressing star bandits, and thinking of how back then Yan Qiongyu and that person from the Yanlan star bandit group seemed to be doing some kind of handover, could it be that the organization Yan Qiongyu was in also set up a star bandit group, so now he was being suppressed by the legion as part of suppressing bandits?
Yan Qiongyu had said over a year ago that he could no longer contact her, and that was exactly when the legion started being active in the border star regions. Most likely he was busy leading the rebel organization in a battle of wits and courage against the legion—no wonder he didn’t dare contact her.
Wang Luan had no doubt that with Yan Qiongyu’s ability and ambition, during this period he had definitely already worked his way up into the organization’s upper-level leadership. If they were suppressed, this kind of big figure was either discovered and went into hiding, or else was caught and locked up.
Wang Luan ran through a whole chain of reasoning and felt it was perfectly reasonable, logically tight.
After glancing at the planet where the legion was stationed, Wang Luan turned the spacecraft around and drove it back. This time she headed straight for the Great Spring District.
Of the people she knew who might know Yan Qiongyu, there was still one more.
ততততততততততত
At the Qi family’s mansion, the rich young master Qi Liao—an absolute newbie who loved piloting mechs—received an unexpected visiting friend. Hearing her purpose, he asked in surprise, “You want to see my aunt?”
Although Qi Liao was surprised that she wanted to see his aunt, given that the two of them were already friends here, he still very loyally immediately took her to visit his aunt, Madam Qi Xin.
“You’re Xiao Liao’s friend? What business do you have with me?” Madam Qi Xin had been widowed for many years. Although she was getting on in age, she still looked beautiful and moving; every gesture was especially graceful. It was just that, for some reason, there was an exhaustion in her eyes that couldn’t quite be hidden.
Wang Luan didn’t beat around the bush. She directly pulled off her glove, revealing the ruby ring on her hand that she had specially put on before coming.
“The gemstone on this ring was once bought by Madam Qi Xin at an auction at the Redstone Trading House. I want to know whom Madam later transferred this gemstone to. Can Madam get in touch with that person?”
Madam Qi Xin’s attitude toward Wang Luan had been fairly polite at first, but upon seeing this gemstone, her gaze instantly changed, becoming scrutinizing and suspicious. Wang Luan could feel the atmosphere in the room change in an instant.
Madam Qi Xin dismissed Qi Liao with a few words. When only Wang Luan remained as a guest, Madam Qi Xin put on a smile. “Now I’m rather curious—how did you come by this gemstone?”
Wang Luan had already swept her gaze over everyone in the room and assessed the weapons she was carrying. Feeling that, if something happened, withdrawing safely from here shouldn’t be a problem, she spoke directly as well. “This is the wedding ring Yan Qiongyu gave me. I came here to ask whether Madam knows Yan Qiongyu.”
Madam Qi Xin’s expression changed again after hearing Wang Luan’s words—this time turning somewhat startled.
“Yan Qiongyu, a wedding ring?” She began to look Wang Luan over with a completely new gaze.
Wang Luan inexplicably felt that Madam Qi Xin, sitting opposite her, suddenly became a little uneasy, as if the air of an elder with status she had put on earlier wasn’t sitting quite comfortably anymore.
Even the steward standing behind Madam Qi Xin, who had been eyeing her with a suspicious gaze, silently lowered his head and brought her a drink for hospitality.
After Utopia underwent internal division, the godmother was expelled, and all opponents were violently suppressed by Yan Qiongyu, the entire force turned into Yan Qiongyu’s one-man rule.
Within Utopia, many people privately circulated a piece of news: their ruthless and merciless godson Yan Qiongyu had an alpha. But in order to protect the other party, he had hidden the person away.
It was said that every so often he would go see that alpha, and every time he refused to let anyone follow, precisely so as not to expose that alpha’s whereabouts.
Someone like Madam Qi Xin—because she was in charge of a smuggling drug line connected to the Empire’s side and had dealings with both the Wang family and the Li family—knew a bit more than others.
She knew that Yan Qiongyu’s alpha was his former fiancée in the Empire, the Wang family’s eldest young lady, Wang Luan.
But she hadn’t expected that this godson’s precious treasure would suddenly come looking for her, which truly caught her off guard. The situation was special now; earlier she had even thought the other party was some hostile force coming to probe for information.
The exquisite ruby ring in the other party’s hand made Madam Qi Xin immediately believe Wang Luan’s identity. After all, it was a gemstone she had personally bid on according to the godson’s request. It was just that she hadn’t known what the godson wanted the gemstone for back then; only now did she understand—it was made into a wedding ring to be given to someone.
Thinking of someone like Yan Qiongyu specially using a precious ruby to make a wedding ring for someone, Madam Qi Xin couldn’t help but wear a strange expression.
“The godson—mm, Yan Qiongyu—he… has gone missing.”
From Madam Qi Xin’s mouth, Wang Luan learned that Yan Qiongyu had already risen to become the head of the organization, but just two days ago he suddenly disappeared at an experimental base, along with his assistant and three researchers from the laboratories.
“The specific situation isn’t something I know very clearly either. Right now, Captain Fu has already sent people to seal off the CON base and is searching for the godson’s whereabouts. I believe there will be results very soon.” Madam Qi Xin’s tone was polite.
Wang Luan: “Captain Fu?”
Wang Luan soon met this Captain Fu. The moment she saw the black uniform of the Li family’s legion on Fu Qi’s body, she almost thought Madam Qi Xin was actually in league with the Li family’s legion, lying to lure her into a trap, preparing to join forces with the legion to capture her—the beloved of the rebel leader—and use her to force Yan Qiongyu to appear.
Fortunately, she recognized Fu Qi’s face. Back then, she had seen him on the Yanlan star bandit group’s spaceship, and after a disagreement had knocked him unconscious. In the end, Yan Qiongyu had come over to speak with him, and the two of them seemed to have reached some kind of cooperation at that time.
“Indeed. At that time I had nothing at all. It was Yan Qiongyu who helped me safely reach the imperial capital, and it was also with his help that I successfully inherited the Li family’s legion.” The way Fu Qi looked at Wang Luan carried a subtle similarity to Madam Qi Xin’s gaze.
It was the gaze one uses to look at a miracle.
It looked like Yan Qiongyu, outside, wasn’t just someone who had bad relationships with other cats—he was even a great demon king whom people feared and demonized. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so rare for them to see that he had a living wife.
Wang Luan tried her best to ignore those looks and pressed on, asking, “Is there any trace of Yan Qiongyu?”
Fu Qi: “Our preliminary guess is that the Yanlan star bandit group took him away. It may have been the work of the godmother… Yan Mu. We found the marks Yan Qiongyu left behind and are tracking their spacecraft’s trail.”
ততততততততততত
Yan Qiongyu walked along the spacecraft’s connecting passageway. They had switched to another ship. The new spacecraft looked very ordinary, like an inconspicuous cargo ship, but inside the security was strict—at every corner, four armed star bandits stood guard.
Yan Qiongyu was still wearing the white sterile suit from the laboratory. He looked thin, but his figure had already returned to normal. Since being taken away from the CON base, over the past two days the people who abducted him had continuously changed routes and spacecraft, and today they had finally completely shaken off the pursuing troops behind them.
Yan Qiongyu guessed that next, he would be able to see Yan Mu.
Pushed into a room arranged like a hospital ward, Yan Qiongyu didn’t mind the star bandits’ roughness. With his hands cuffed behind his back, he very naturally said to Yan Mu, who lay on the bed and was almost reduced to a bundle of bones, “Mother, why do you look so haggard?”
Yan Mu looked at him, her tone also quite ordinary and gentle. “You, on the other hand, look pretty good.”
“Our agreed time hasn’t arrived yet. Mother bringing me here now—isn’t that a bit too urgent?”
“I didn’t want to either, but unfortunately my body is declining faster than expected. So when I heard your experiment succeeded, I couldn’t wait to call you over.” Yan Mu looked as if even speaking took effort, but just like Yan Qiongyu didn’t like to display weakness, she still maintained her habitual calm demeanor. “Next, you will help Mother fulfill her long-cherished wish.”
